Day 0855 - Time Out of Mind

Bob Dylan "Time Out of Mind" (1997)

Dylan had been some 6-7 years without any original material, existing instead on cover songs and revisiting his past glories.   He reunited with producer Daniel Lanois, regular producer for U2, and Peter Gabriel, and who had also produced Dylan's own "Oh Mercy" album.

By all accounts the sessions seem to have been cluttered with two drummers and  a multitude of other musicians on the sessions.... I'm sure Phil Spector would have approved.

Dylan later expressed mixed feelings about the recording, and one critic described it as Lanois' CV... well if that's the case, I'd hire him.   I really enjoyed the album.

I'm typically 50/50 on Bob Dylan as I don't focus much on lyrics and that's obviously known to be his main strength.  I'm more interested in what he's doing musically and how the words fit around that sound-wise.   From opener "Love Sick" this is a murky blues album, one of those ones that sounds like it'd make a great soundtrack for driving (maybe through a desert night).  The dense sound eases up temporarily for piano ballad "Make you feel my love" then back onto the highway for the last couple of tracks, including the epic 16+ minute closing track "Highlands".

Dylan's nasal voice had settled into a weary, gravelly drawl which suits this music nicely.

Day 0661 - Rhythm Nation 1814

Janet Jackson "Rhythm Nation 1814" (1989)

JJ had had success with her third album "Control".   Predictably, her record label suggested producing a follow-up that reproduced that album as closely as possible.   Janet, instead opted to craft an album with a sense of social consciousness.   She commented on various issues she'd encountered either herself or in the news, issues such as school shootings, and racial dis/harmony. 

While working on the album, Janet had commented to her producers that it would be great if they could just create their own peaceful nation of music... leading to the album title and title track.

The music mines similar territory to her brother's 1980s output, the funk and RnB mixed with a touch of rock (particularly the track "Black Cat").  There's more of a focus on danceable beats on memorable singles like "Miss You Much" and "Rhythm Nation".   The Jackson family could do no wrong (musically) around this time.

Day 0572 - The Colour of Spring

Talk Talk "The Colour of the Spring"

 
Talk Talk, one of the earlier bands to employ the new sound of synthesizers is here, one of the first bands to abandon them.  The synths are ousted for pianos, organs and interesting guitar textures, and the results are brilliant!

There is some competent pop-rock in the shape of "Life's What You Make it" and "Happiness is Easy" which has a moody trumpet solo and a child choir to lift it above standard fare.  There are some moodier tracks like "Chameleon Day", where Mark Hollis' haunting tenor backed with a semi-classical backdrop of piano and keyboards almost predicts the moodier moments of A Perfect Circle.

Day 0007 - Songs For Swingin' Lovers!

Frank Sinatra "Songs For Swingin' Lovers!" (1956) got it

Something of a companion piece to "In the wee small hours".  Where that was the breakup album you play at night and cry bitter tears into your scotch; this is the bright sunny flipside, as you revel in joys and wonders of love!

Frank has never been in better voice, and Nelson Riddle's arrangements are once again top-notch with brilliant little jabs of horns or pa-pows of drum fills that catch you unawares and put a smile on your face. Apparently after the band had run through Riddle's arrangement of "I've got you under my skin" they gave him a round of applause.

The book points out that the album's 45 minute runtime over 15 tracks shows that the 3 minute pop song was already well established here.

See this is where I'm glad for this listening 'quest' because I love this album but it seems there are always so many things I want to listen to , that it's easy enough for great albums like this to slip my net for a while.